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Help to work out what plant this is

purplerach12purplerach12 Posts: 11
in Plants
My husband and I moved into a rented house last year. Trying to work out what is growing in the flower bed. Does anyone have a suggestion what this is?

Posts

  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    Looks like caper spurge, not a fan at all. Properly called Euphorbia it is a pest and needs careful handling as it has a sap that can irritate. Don't let it seed or you will have them everywhere!

    Should say some people actually like spurge.......
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    That's the native form and is even less attractive than the cultivated ones/  They all have sap that can cause burns if you get it on your skin in sunlight and do be very careful about not touching your eyes with the sap on your hands.  Wear gloves.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Yes - remove it carefully. As @Obelixx says - it's not one of  the ornamental ones, and you need good protection. 
    You might be able to just get a spade underneath that, and hoik it out though. Still have some protection on you though.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • purplerach12purplerach12 Posts: 11
    Many thanks. I think I will get my gloves and goggles out and get rid of that!
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    edited April 2020
    Many people chose to leave them.
    They are architectural.
    This was in a National Trust garden.




    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I knew a lady who was very fond of euphorbia, had several clumps in her garden and called it spurge.  Her less keen husband called it splurge.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2020
    I like them  <3 in the right place ... but yes, keep the sap away from your skin and particularly your eyes. It can cause real burns. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    Each to their own I guess, I don't see any redeeming features I'm afraid.  My late husband liked a poinsettia in the house at Christmas and so I tolerated it,  now I am spurge free and happy to stay that way.
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
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